North Texas Daily

Reece Waddell | Senior Staff Writer

@ReeceWaddell15

It’s been 24 days since North Texas softball has found the win column.

The Mean Green (20-32, 3-18) was beaten for the 13th consecutive time on Wednesday, falling 4-2 to the University of Texas at Austin on the road.

Freshman pitcher Lauren Craine started the game in the circle for North Texas, but struggled early. The Longhorns (34-14, 7-7) got the scoring started in the bottom half of the first on an RBI single through the left side of the infield.

“That first inning we had three ground balls through the infield one that we should have definitely fielded,” head coach Tracey Kee. “I wouldn’t hang it all on [Craine] as much as I thought we were very passive on the defensive side and didn’t come out ready from the first out.”

Craine gave up two additional runs in the second inning before settling down nicely during the middle frames. Nevertheless, with the Longhorns up 4-0, Kee still made the call to the bullpen in the fourth inning, turning to junior pitcher Jessica Elder in relief.

Elder, however, answered the bell, retiring all 12 batters she faced.

“I felt it was a great game for me,” Elder said. “I came out strong and kept the ball low and just let my defense help me out behind me. It was a matter of making sure the ball stayed low and had a lot of spin.”

The Mean Green had a scoring opportunity in the top of the fourth with two on and two out, but junior Longhorn pitcher Tiarra Davis recorded her seventh strikeout of the day to end the threat. One inning later, though, North Texas got on the board.

With runners at first and second in the top of the fifth, senior second baseman Karly Williams hit a two-out, two-RBI single down the line in the left field to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.

“I had talked to coach [Kozlowkski] about it,” Williams said. “There was one time there was two outs and the bases loaded and I didn’t come through. So we talked about it and she was like ‘you’re going to get another chance like that.’ So I just wanted to take advantage of it. I don’t want to go out not doing anything for the team.”

Unfortunately, that was all the offense the Mean Green was able to manufacture. Despite getting the tying run on first base in the seventh inning, Williams popped out to the pitcher to end the game and extend the losing skid.

“For us, it’s putting a complete game together,” Kee said. “I thought we turned a little corner tonight. At this point we’re just played for pride.”